


He’s trying

by kurojiri



Series: Iron Man Bingo 2019 Fills [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Cooking, Gen, Happy Ending, Human Disaster Tony Stark, Iron Man Bingo 2019, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tony Stark-centric, Tony doesn't know how to cook, background Tony Stark/Pepper Potts - Freeform, he tries though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-05 23:05:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17928104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurojiri/pseuds/kurojiri
Summary: Cooking, was unfortunately, not one of his many skills he has padded down.Aka: 5 times Tony tries to cook alone  + 1 time he didn't.





	He’s trying

**Author's Note:**

> So, I decided to participate in Iron Man Bingo 2019. First time doing this kind of challenge and I'm excited. Some will be shorter fics and hopefully others will be longish? Crossing my fingers. 
> 
> Square Fill: Learning to Cook
> 
> Either way enjoy!!

“Sir?” 

Besides the empty kitchen and with the windows wide open, Tony still found it hard to wake himself up properly. His head didn't ache nor had he drunk for the past two days, a record really, for a twenty-something old Tony Stark who had lived through so many parties and blackouts in the mornings. It had been one of those days when Tony Stark didn't know what to do with his life, he could return to his workspace and chose a random project to finish, or he could jot down a few new ideas to try out later but, instead he ended up in his kitchen. A place he didn't really do much there but had since he did eat occasionally when Rhodey had successfully managed something edible to end up inside his stomach.  
  
A normal person would have had a fully stocked pantry and refrigerator but in Tony's case it had been mostly empty, save a few odd takeout stored in there. There had been some that should have been thrown out by now, but he didn’t pay attention to them just yet. He had spotted some eggs and butter and figured he might as well do something productive and virtually something unlike him as his stomach took cue to grumble out loud. Being sober had been bad enough that starvation wasn’t something he had been keen on either.  
  
(How people could stand being sober for more than two days, Tony did not understand them.)  
  
He took them out wordlessly before addressing his A. I who by then had shown some emotions that he did not remember programming him having.  
  
“It's morning, right? So, breakfast should be eaten right now if I’m pretending to be a normal person.”  
  
“Yes, sir. It is rational for a person to eat breakfast before starting their day. Shall I contact the usual to prepare you something?”  
  
The eggs and butter were still out. Uncharacteristically, he shook his head. It still amazed him how he forgot how it felt to not have a huge headache because of alcohol. He had been going through a withdrawal last night, but his own body had shut down from the needed sleep his body craved, so he won that night. He didn’t think he could last to lunch. So, he figured he might as well try breakfast before he raided the vodka later.  
  
“Nah, I think I’ll try to whip something up for myself before we admit defeat.”  
  
“Are you sure, sir?”  
  
“Definitely. I'm feeling like pancakes and some eggs. It can’t be that hard to do.” He strolled over to the pantry again to fetch the pancake mix and to some random bowls before getting started.  
  
Ten minutes later after the fire burned most of his stove and 911 had been called, he ordered breakfast.  
  
He tried.  
  


* * *

 

 

“JARVIS, how hot is it?”  
  
The sun had been suspiciously killing him each time he woke up to sweaty clothes clinging to him. It had been worse when he had women over, the sheets didn’t welcome him when he woke up in those days. He probably spent most of his time in the shower where the cold water helped somewhat. California's summers were not his favorite times. Sure, there was a nonexistent winter in some parts but the summer was three-fourths prominent in his life.  
  
“It is 99 degrees, with a chance of it reaching towards 104 later this afternoon.”  
  
He whipped off the sweat from his brow as he whistled out loud his complaint. “Well shit. No wonders I’m sweating everywhere. That’s it I’m not going to work today or tomorrow. Pepper can pry off my sweaty ass from the shower if she really wants a go. But I’m not leaving.”  
  
Ten minutes later after his first, but not last shower he walked over the refrigerator where there had been cold beers inside and ready for him to drink into oblivion. An odd watermelon had been in there too with sliced pieces in a large plate. He didn't remember ever eating them or buying one since he had left his family mansion. Tony didn’t know whether to hiss at the fruit or not for bringing up memories that should have not popped up in the first place. He did take out the plate and poked them. They were still freshly cut.  
  
And too healthy for him to consume. That wouldn’t do. He needed nourishment and a buzz. “Hey, JARVIS give me some recipes for a fun treat with watermelon and with—” he spotted a couple of ingredients that he used on occasion with guest. “Tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice.”  
  
“Right away Sir.”  
  
When Pepper came later that day, she had not been shocked to him eating a watermelon popsicle with alcohol in it. She really couldn’t. At least the kitchen survived from Tony using it that day.

 

* * *

 

 

He got sick.  
  
That really had been the only reason why he didn’t drink for that week. It had been horrendous. 1000/10 would not recommend. Besides the runny nose, the clogged throat and fever that came and went the cold sweat was just plain disgusting. The shivers had been annoying too since had to keep call Pepper to order more blankets.  
  
He was sure that Pepper was getting too fed up with random calls for soup or other shit he couldn’t remember asking with the hazy memory he had going. He blacked out some memories too as he woke up on a coach or inside his lab several times when he knew he had been sleeping in his room. Tony usually took really good care in having no sick people near him, and it had worked out perfectly for most his life. It seemed like he ran out of luck this season as the flu came in hard and fast.  
  
He would give Pepper a raise once this flu left his body. “JARVIS, make a note of that.”  
  
“Duly noted.”  
  
It still didn’t change that he was sick, moaning and bitching in the middle of his living room. Watching TV barely kept his attention too when he had it turn on. The medicine didn’t really kick in until he reached the cooking channel. The image of a beef stew had made his stomach ache. And in some poor sad image, Tony wobbled to the kitchen where he promptly asked JARVIS to keep him company as well be his second command as he attempted to make the stew from memory. The fire department had been called twenty minutes later with a scolding Pepper right behind them.  
  


* * *

 

 

Slightly nodding off but still very coherent to be awake, he had stumbled to the kitchen at three in the morning. His reflexes had been getting rusty since he passed late twenties, but he didn’t let that stop him from opening his freezer. It had been a long journey since the whole Iron-Man thing happened. JARVIS was gone and he needed to do something. Anything really with him not sleeping.  
  
Pepper was not there, as she had to be the more responsible CEO and away for a business trip. Their penthouse was quite different from the tower and faculty where the rest of the odd man of Avengers went to. He didn’t know why he couldn’t sit still. Tony had meant it when he said he would not be Iron Man. He did want to branch away from it. And yet. There he was debating to order food from a 24/7 place or not.  
  
The freezer didn’t hold anything that he really wanted, but there a premade lasagna. The box even had directions there for him to pop it inside an oven. Life should have been simple like that; having directions like food did. It would help make the world so much easier to navigate. And for someone like Tony, he needed an easy assignment or task to do since all that clusterfuck that came to be his life.  
  
“Hey, Fri, can you be a good girl and preheat the oven for me.”  
  
As he closed the freezer his A. I responded back. “Are you sure that is wise to do so boss? I have a protocol to alert Ms. Potts, Mr. Rhodes and any other person in proximity if you attempt to cook.”  
  
That stung a bit that he didn’t have any support from his current A. I in his cooking. He was sure that JARVIS loved spending time with him when he tried to be domestic. Even if most of those times did involve other people watching him not burning a toaster. Or that he couldn’t eat anything that he did manage to create. It still meant a lot to him since he remembered the times, he did have the real Jarvis cooking for him since he never did like the way his nannies made him snacks or meals.  
  
“Hey, I can make toast without breaking the toaster. And I’m a billionaire so, I can afford to remodel the kitchen any day, week and year without it being a problem.”  
  
He ripped open the box and went over the oven. “Now, it's just a premade lasagna. It can’t be that hard to heat up.”  
  
Over the other side of the country, Pepper woke up to the background noise of people talking and for some reason her gut knowing Tony had tried cook. How she knew, she didn’t bother dig deep as she heard Tony slowly explaining himself on the other end.  
  
“So, turns out premade food is still a risky thing for me to do alone. Although, I blame FRIDAY’s negative feedback. It brought the moral down.”  
  
“Tony.”  
  
“I know. I know, don’t cook alone.”

 

* * *

 

  
  


With drinking out of his life Tony Stark knew he needed to find better ways to use his time. Tinkering had always been his thing. And while sometimes they got him into trouble and had been a nasty habit to become obsessed with, cooking had been that weird zone where he did in small and rare times in his life. He never got good at it. (But somehow his life did end up with the fire departments that had been close to his California and New York home did get to know him.) Any practice time he did use, he needed to be supervised by other people. As neither of his A. I counted, apparently.

There had many times when he had to remodel and replace appliances as a consequence, but Tony Stark could not consider himself as a quitter for anything. He had wanted to get better, to impress people like Pepper and Rhodey that he could make one dish without having a disaster being invited into the mix. He had always lived to in a motto for self-improvement after he had hit rock bottom and wanted out, he wanted to be a decent human being.

How it came back to learning how to cook, he didn’t know; but Tony knew that if he had to pick something to other than sticking inside his lab he had to choose something remotely useful. Like being able to go a day and eat a chicken taco salad because he wanted to eat one. He could have ordered one, but really, if he made it, it would have made the whole ordeal of looking like he could pull it off being someone that Pepper could count on.

When he had been younger Jarvis had been someone that he liked watching cooking. Those memories sometimes still hurt for him think about, but as he grew older he could appreciate them. The salad may have been seen as a joke, but for Tony, he really just wanted one plate he could make. It didn’t matter how long he would have to practice to getting it right, he wanted it done.

“Boss, shall I inform Ms. Potts?”

He had all the ingredients ready. “Sure. Knock your socks off. I'll start washing the lettuce while you’re at it.”

He’ll get there eventually. Along, with FRIDAY looking out for him.  
  


* * *

 

 

“So, basically, your class is having a dessert cook-off?”  
  
Tony had lowered his tablet that he had been looking over when Peter sat down across of him for a lunch break, he could tell that he had been nervous about the ordeal with one hand tapping against his thighs. A habit, Tony noticed since they started to regularly meet up two-three times after school and weekends for the internship that became legal with documents and pay, as he insisted after Peter had shown him sketches of things he wanted to create. The kid was brilliant, and he would damn make sure he would help his spider-kid getting the right material and opportunities to change the world whether he wore the spandex as he fought crime or diligently engineering in the lab, he provided him. When Peter nodded Tony gestured for him to pass him the flyer that his homeroom period had passed out a day prior. It had been crumpled and constantly been reopened and folded by the worn creases it endured.  
  
He wasn't a genius when it came to the kitchen, but when his kid looked hopeful, he knew he couldn't resist the puppy eyes that had been unintentionally aimed at him.  
  
“Sure, why not. I'm free that day.” Peter's body instantly relaxed as he flashed him a happy grin. “I'm going to assume that your aunt is going to be the third team member, right?”  
  
They both knew that their team was going to create a unique entry with Peter being the only person that could decently make cereal and eggs scrambled on a good day. That, and because of the very colorful history Tony with the years of him trying to make anything edible. Did anyone ever mention to Peter of Tony’s lack of skills for cooking? Was it even a good idea to participate and probably burn down his school, just because Peter asked him to be in his team? It was too late to back out now, he already said yes. He also didn’t want to disappoint him.  
  
And besides, it could only end in disaster if Peter and May gave him a big part in the meal. He could mix and stir without raising hell. It would be fine. (But he would make sure to give the heads up to both Parkers either way during practice hours.)  
  
“She saw the flyer and got excited over it.” Peter shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. “She actually was the one to voice in seeing if you wanted to participate too.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
Besides the whole cooking thing nagging into his skull, he was still new to being a mentor with Peter. It had been a good change in his life; even if there had been moments, he knew that he gained gray hairs because of the kid. He sort of reminded him of how reckless the youth could be as it brought him back into remembering his exchange with May Parker.  
  
It had a few weeks since the homecoming disaster and from her marching to the closest office she could find to mark an impromptu meeting with him. There had a few furious curses that had been thrown from her side; but nothing aimed directly at him, which sort of surprised him since he has had a past of pissing off women that did (and in some ended with a slap on the face too). In that day, they eventually got to the point where she did give them a timeout to calm the room. May Parker had been resilient woman since the death of her husband and finding out about Spider-Man, and when they came to discuss Peter's future Tony had just been happy to still have a part in it. Even more so, to be allowed to see Peter growth first hand.  
  
“She likes you now. Aunt May knows that you're for serious in mentoring and looking out for me.”  
  
“Okay then. We’ll have to schedule in days to practice our desserts before the cook-off.” And for the fire department to get the heads up that Tony Stark would be trying to cook again.  
  
Peter took out his phone with a list already filled options to consider. “Can we try making the pumpkin ginger cupcakes or a cheesecake?”  
  
He leaned forward to ruffle Pete’s curls. “Sure kid. FRIDAY, can you pull the recipes for them? Oh, and don’t forget to call May to see if she’s free to come over as soon as possible.”  
  
Because honestly, he didn’t want to be alone with precious cargo who still didn’t know how terrible he was in the kitchen.


End file.
